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Monday, December 13, 2010

Oh, and, um...

The Second City That Never Sleeps: Letters to Santa, the Pipers Alley comedy institution's ninth annual holiday benefit show, kicks off tomorrow night at 6 p.m.

It's 24 straight hours of sketch comedy, celebrity interviews, rock music and expert improvisation. This year's highlights include difficult but brilliant Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy at 8pm; difficult but brilliant recording engineer Steve Albini interviewing fellow Northwestern University alumnnus, Groupon founder and incipient billionaire Andrew Mason at 10:30pm; the difficult Sally Timms and brilliant Jon Langford at 7:30am; and the brilliant, easygoing Robbie Fulks at 1pm. More performers will be added to the schedule up to (and past) showtime, and surprise walkons are routine.

Did we mention the cause? All proceeds go toward Christmas presents for poor kids -- specifically those who wrote letters to Santa Claus, helpfully diverted to Second City operatives by the elves at the downtown Chicago branch of the U.S. Postal Service.

If that doesn't appeal to you on an artistic, altruistic or charitable level, you are hereby invited to stop reading my blog permanently.

Followers

NPR Sunday puzzle

This week:

What familiar saying with seven words has seven consonants in a row? The answer is a common saying, in ordinary English. Sometimes it's expressed in nine words rather than seven, but it's the same saying. And either way, in one spot it has seven consecutive consonants. What saying is it?

Last week: Name something in seven letters that most people keep in their homes. Take the first, third, fourth and seventh letters and rearrange them. The result will be a four-letter word naming something that the seven-letter thing is commonly used for. What is it?

Highlight for answer: Aspirin, pain

Two weeks ago: The name of what character, familiar to everyone, contains each of the five vowels (A, E, I, O and U) exactly once? The answer consists of two words — eight letters in the first word, four letters in the second.

Highlight for answer: Question mark

Three weeks ago: Name a well-known person from the 20th century who held an important position. Take the first and last letters of this person's last name, change each of them to the next letter of the alphabet, and you'll get the last name of another famous person who held the same position sometime after the first one. Who is it?

Why not to blog

A friend of mine produced this hilarious look at a sad era in American history. After lighting up Broadway and playing live on HBO, it's now out on DVD. Click the image to get yourself a copy. You'll love it.